Gadget

Saturday, June 17, 2017

Humanity’s
last stand is at stake in the upcoming epic action “War for the
Planet of the Apes” where peace is shattered in a winner-takes-all
war for the planet. Here we see the incredible transformation of the
actors in mo-cap (motion capture) technology as they bring their
characters to life on the big screen.

As
the war rages on in “War for the Planet of the Apes,” the third
and climactic chapter of the critically acclaimed blockbuster
trilogy, director Matt Reeves and an all-star cast unleash the
rapidly evolving simians into a world boiling over with anger and
revenge. In a flurry of mythic filmmaking, audiences will witness
the pivotal moment that determines the fate of human civilization
forever –and be immersed in the ape leader Caesar’s emotional
quest to lead his young society to a new home, even as a war between
his belief in family and honor versus the lure of a vengeful
reckoning churns within his soul.

Big
ideas and potent storytelling combine as “War For the Planet of the
Apes” pushes the series into new realms of legend-building as it
explores the values that forge a civilization. It all comes to life
driven by the most complex and intense performance by Andy Serkis yet
as the majestic Caesar, and groundbreaking visual effects from Weta
Digital. Also returning to the series is Karin Konoval as Caesar’s
trusted advisor, Maurice, Terry Notary as Caesar’s right-hand man,
Rocket, as well as Judy Greer as Caesar’s wife Cornelia and Toby
Kebbell as Koba.

The
development of leading-edge performance capture technology –
technology that can record even the tiniest nuances of movement,
gesture and emotion to animated characters via human actors -- has
led to the creation of some of motion pictures’ most memorable
personalities, including the apes seen in Rise of the Planet of the
Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

The
filmmakers once again turned to the visual effects artists at the New
Zealand-based visual effects house Weta Digital. “Working with Dan
Lemmon and the artists at Weta is so inspiring,” says Reeves.
“They are constantly raising the bar of what is possible, and the
results in this film are absolutely a high water mark in visual
effects to date.”

Weta
Digital has continued to evolve their capture technology over the
three films to ensure no matter where the story goes, the performance
of the actors onset is always recorded so the animators can see the
dynamics at play. “When we shot Rise, performance capture had
never before been attempted in an open environment outside a
soundstage, and we were the first to shoot in the woods,” Peter
Chernin recalls. “Now we’re going to mountaintops and into the
snow. People don’t know how extraordinary complex it is.”

Giving
Weta another new challenge, War features a dozen key ape characters,
more than in the previous films, and they also are speaking with more
sophistication. War marks another first for performance capture –
the first time it has been used in extreme weather, including falling
snow. Lemmon explains the daunting task: “We had to take a
process already considered very sensitive and carefully calibrate it
into areas with sub-freezing temperatures and snow flurries. It’s
exciting, because we’ve opened up the possibility that you can use
performance capture anywhere, interacting with any environment and
still have full confidence that you’ve captured every nuance an
actor is bringing.”

“War
for the Planet of the Apes” opens July 12 in cinemas nationwide
from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.